This is a Fitness Tracker We Can Get Behind

What is it?

New Balance, the athletic footwear and apparel company, has opened the doors to its first ever pub, The Runaway.

Say what?

Yep, a fitness apparel company has opened a pub. And it has all the trappings of a traditional pub. There are darts and music and a fully stocked bar. And, because this is New Balance, there is even a gym downstairs.

But here’s the catch: You have to earn your pints.

Down. Where do I sign up?

New Balance has teamed up with Strava, a social fitness network that is primarily used to track cycling and running using GPS data, to launch challenges for runners. When a runner joins the Strava challenge, they get a “Runaway Card” that will automatically fill up with the miles they’ve run.

Athletes can then take the card to The Runaway and exchange their miles for pints.

Our prayers have been answered.

Yes, but only if you live in London. Someone start this in the States, stat.

Coffee Break Conversations

That one time no one got your joke…

Well, that one fell a little flat. You know something else that’s flat? Track sprints. The next time you incorporate a run into your training, consider hill sprints. They’re terrible but they’re great for you. (Tip: practice your jokes on the runs.)

The next time your roommate sneaks in with a McDonald’s bag at midnight…

Well, it could be worse. McDonald’s just announced a new policy to slowly reduce the overall use of antibiotics in their global beef supply chain. (P.S. Oddly enough, this is not the first time McDonald’s and CrossFit have appeared in the same article.)

Things To…

WATCH: Brute Showdown Ep. 2: Max Lifts

With Brute Coach Adrian Conway as the host, bodybuilder Dana Linn Bailey, CrossFit athlete Brooke Ence, powerlifter Maddy Forberg and weightlifter Mattie Rogers battle it out in the first two events of the Brute Showdown.

CrossFit For the People owner, Kayla Tote, and cohost Kevin Seaman discuss the state of what CrossFit founder Greg Glassman refers to as “the mess.” The two cover the importance of revealing behaviors of major money-making organizations and how to take action to no longer support some of the sources behind the mess.

Roll into your next Open workout with a Dave Castro approved shirt from How Nice. But, in all seriousness, How Nice is donating all proceeds from these shirts to the Navy Seal Foundation. Use code “CHALKUP” for free shipping.

This creamy turmeric latte has hints of vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom. The golden yellow spice has been known to contain anti-inflammatory properties, which means it’s wonderful post workout to soothe muscle pain and help recovery.

Chalk Up Community

CRU’S CRUSADERS — On Saturday, March 30 at 10:30 AM PT OC Athletix is hosting Cru’s Crusaders Fundraiser WOD. Cru Mercuro is a six-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. All money raised will contribute to an advanced spinal surgery that could result in him walking unassisted. $20 per person donation. Ages 13 and over to participate in the workout.

ADAPTIVE CROSSFIT CLASSES — Orlando Health, a network of not-for-profit healthcare facilities, has partnered with South Orlando CrossFit to hold weekly classes for adaptive athletes that use a wheelchair.

BEST IN TOWN — Congratulations to Big Lick CrossFit on being voted the best gym in Roanoke, VA.

NEW AFFILIATE — CrossFit Royal Coast in Pascagoula, MS is opening on Monday, March 4th.

CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES(a highlight reel around social media of CrossFit pros and average joes)

— Android Users Take Note: Tuesday, CrossFit announced “The Android version of the CrossFit Games app is currently offline. Irregularities with the app contributed to yesterday’s temporary outage, and our team is working on a solution. We will provide updates as soon as they are available. Leaderboard, score submission, and all features of the Open are accessible by logging into Games.CrossFit.com on a mobile browser or desktop. Learn more about the Games website.”

— Planning Ahead: Yesterday CrossFit Filthy150, the first sanctioned event of the 2020 CrossFit Games season, announced they will be a live host for the 19.5 Open announcement.

SHOTS FIRED…Again, as Jillian Michaels doubles down against CrossFit — Earlier this month, Jillian Michaels she spent 60 seconds on SHAPE’s Instagram listing all the reasons why she hates CrossFit.

After an outpouring of criticism for her misinformed remarks (most likely from the CrossFit community), Michaels doubled down in a blog post, saying things like:

— “[CrossFit] Exercises Can Be Too Complicated for the Average Person…

— “I have yet to be given any reasoning for how those workouts make an athlete better. How is the workout individualized? How is it designed to progress an athlete? How is it offering a balanced approach to fitness?”

— “Because CrossFit has a limited number of key exercises…in addition to increasing the risk of repetitive stress injuries, the opposite can happen. Your body can adapt to those same movements and progress can actually slow over time.”

— “If you are going to a CrossFit box make sure your coach has a degree in exercise science.”

SHOTS RETURNED…writing in SHAPE, Rich Froning defends CrossFit and takes Michaels to task specifically over her assertion that CrossFit only has “20-25 movements”:

“Are there more effective ways to target multiple muscle groups and practice synergy between the upper and lower body than through AMRAP training and CrossFit? Yeah, I’m sure there are more efficient ways to target muscles but, that isn’t what we’re trying to do in CrossFit. We think more about movements and general physical preparedness than we do about specific muscle groups and how to target them.

— “To further show the variety of CrossFit training, take a look at what my workout routine has consisted of this week: I indoor biked 30 plus miles, swam 5,000 meters, front squatted 325 pounds for reps, performed kipping pull-ups along with chest-to-bar pull-ups and bar muscle-ups (in the same workout). I also snatched 205, 225, and 245 for reps with handstand walk obstacles between sets.”

— “CrossFit workouts can be tailored for everyone’s skill level and goals – it’s not just for elite athletes. It’s about the functionality and scalability to the masses. My gym, CrossFit Mayhem, has members ranging from 5 years old to 76 years old. We have people with every fitness level on the spectrum walking through our doors every day.”

On Thursday, Dr. José Baselga resigned from his position as chief medical officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Earlier this month, ProPublica and The New York Times revealed that he’d received millions of dollars from drug and device companies whose fortunes he stood to affect.

He also sat on the board of at least six companies, where his fiduciary responsibility to them might conflict with his obligations to the cancer center. Most of his outside income was not disclosed to the journals in which he published, in violation of their requirements.

Although his case is extreme, these kinds of conflicts of interest are virtually universal in the upper levels of academic medicine.

I was an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine for over two decades, and was there in 1984 when we became the first major medical journal to institute a policy that required authors of research articles to disclose all financial ties to companies that could be affected by their research. We had become aware that academic researchers were receiving large payments from drug companies and that it was distorting their work.

For example, I once phoned the senior author of a paper submitted to us to ask why he had neglected to mention the side effects of a potent new drug he was testing. Without any apparent embarrassment, he said that the sponsor wouldn’t let him. We didn’t publish the paper, but another journal did.